Training

Registrars (speciality trainees)

There is a proud tradition of training young urologists at Guy's Hospital. There are 8 registrars (speciality trainees) training within the department. Registrars spend 1 - 2 years at Guy's as part of the South Thames Training Scheme of the London Deanery.

The large volume of specialised surgery, especially in laparoscopy, robotics, endourology, and oncology, allows registrars the opportunity to gain valuable experience at the highest level.

Registrars must sit the FRCS(Urol) examination at the end of their training, before becoming consultants. Former trainees from Guy's have won the Keith Yeates Medal for achieving the top mark in this examination on a number of occasions in the past few years. Mr Paul Cathcart is the programme director for the Guy's rotation within the London Deanery.

Research registrars and other training grades

Research registrars participate in clinical and academic activities while completing their theses at King's College London. Foundation Year (FY1, FY2), and Surgical Training (ST 1,2,3) grade doctors are all accommodated within the academic and clinical programmes within the department.

Students

Students from the School of Medicine at King's College London participate in an active programme of tutorials and clinical activities within the department of urology. Apart from bedside and out-patient teaching sessions, students are given the opportunity to attend operating theatres to observe a range of urological procedures.

In addition, there are specially designed special study modules (SSMs) in the areas of robotic and laparoscopic urology which allow students to gain particular expertise in these exciting fields.

Simulation and teaching enhanced learning initiative (STeLi)

The STeLi project commenced in November 2009. It is an initiative by the Department of Health to improve the way that surgical techniques are taught by developing simulation techniques to allow training surgeons to learn and practice new skills. The main objective is to enhance patient safety on the principle of 'Practice makes Perfect'.

It runs on alternate Fridays at the Sherman Education Centre in Guy's Hospital and teaches urology trainees to do a range of procedures. It is organised by Professor Prokar Dasgupta and Mr Shamim Khan along with Dr Peter Jaye, Director of simulation. It has led to the validation of laparoscopic and robotic simulators and is the first such programme in London. The programme has been awarded two gold medals by the University of London. It is supported by two project grants from the London Deanery and Olympus KeyMed.

Research

Clinical research programmes

Professor Prokar Dasgupta, consultant urological surgeon, is a professor of urology at King's College London and supervises very active basic science and clinical research programmes within the department. He is based at the MRC Centre for Transplantation, The Integrated Cancer Centre and Faculty of Translational Medicine within the Biomedical Research Centre.

There are 3 - 5 students pursuing full or part-time PhDs in topics including prostate brachytherapy, intravesical botox for overactive bladder, robotics and ergonomic aspects of minimally invasive surgery. Over £6 million worth of project grants have been raised by the department in recent years.

A number of randomised controlled trials are underway at Guy's including:

Blue light cystoscopy for superficial bladder cancer

Intravesical Botox for idiopathic detrusor overactivity

Odmit-C for intravesical mitomycin-c post nephro-ureterectomy

STAMPEDE trial for prostate cancer

RADICALS trial for prostate cancer

National and international publications and presentations

Apart from regional and national urology meetings, surgeons from Guy's regularly present our work at the major international urology meetings. These are:

European Association of Urology (EAU) Annual Meeting

American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting

British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) Annual Meeting

World Congress of Endourology (WCE)

Société Internationale d'Urologie (SIU) in Annual Meeting.

We publish 30 - 40 papers in international peer-reviewed journals each year and have an international academic reputation for much of the specialist work we undertake in the department.